New Jersey residents have a new baseball option in Rockland

Heavy snowstorms hampered construction of the region's newest minor league baseball park throughout the winter, and oppressive heat beat down on workers who were putting in finishing touches last week.

The Rockland Boulders will play their first home game Thursday in Pomona, N.Y.

But on Thursday night, the Rockland Boulders will finally play their home opener at 4,506-seat Provident Bank Park in Pomona, N.Y., after playing their first 16 games on the road.

"Everything is pretty rushed these days," part-owner Shawn Reilly recently acknowledged as he looked out at the $38 million facility that is less than a dozen miles north of the Bergen County line. "But once we open up, I think people will see this as redefining their thinking of what to expect from a minor league ballpark."

Reilly and his partners, who include Yankees broadcaster and ex-major-leaguer John Flaherty, hope to sell out the first home game for the franchise, which plays in the independent Can-Am League.

Of course, selling tickets after the novelty of a home opener will be the big challenge — and Reilly said club officials are looking south of the border for prospective ticket buyers, as well as in southern New York State.

"We're looking at the northern Bergen market for sure, as well as straight down the Palisades [Interstate Parkway], down to Alpine and those towns," said Reilly, whose park is less than a mile off Exit 12 on the parkway and about 20 miles north of Alpine.

The owners looked to other ballparks for inspiration — such as the 360-degree layout of the Lakewood Blue Claws, the "bridge" design in the Mets' CitiField outfield section, and even their own "green monster" wall a la Fenway Park, though this one is in center field.

But club officials also tout unique touches, such as the "Dugout of Dreams" — an extended section of the home dugout where Little Leaguers and other fans can watch the game while separated from Boulders players and coaches only by a glass wall.

The center field Bridge Bar may keep fans cool, while the Sunset Party Deck's half-dozen picnic benches will appeal to sun seekers.

The park — which offers a view of the Ramapo Mountains — also features the team's batting cage and both locker rooms near the main entrance, with the field built below that level. That means that players will walk through the stands to get to the field — and back through the stands to exit, even if it's a struggling starting pitcher who is yanked mid-inning.

The high-definition scoreboard will offer replays — a rarity at this level.

But the road to the stadium opening has not always been smooth. Voters in the town of Ramapo, which includes Pomona, voted by more than a 2-1 ratio last summer against using public funds to pay for stadium construction. Undaunted, Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence and the town board responded by forming the Ramapo Local Development Corp., a quasi-governmental agency, to issue $25 million in bonds.

The town expects to collect nearly $2 million in annual revenue, including its half-share of a 10-year, $275,000-per-year, naming rights deal with Provident Savings Bank, as well as a revenue-sharing model that sends Ramapo $1 for each ticket sold and $2 for each car parked at the site for Boulders games. The Boulders' annual rent is $175,000.

Phil Tisi, the town's assistant to the supervisor, said that includes $400,000 to $600,000 in town revenue from car shows, flea markets, concerts and other non-baseball events being planned. Ramapo needs to take in at least $1.3 million a year to meet the annual debt service and avoid having to seek funds from taxpayers.

An opposition group called Preserve Ramapo faults an economic study's projections for the park — especially assumptions that the Boulders can attract more than 3,000 paying fans for 50 home games, and that the fields will be rented out extensively by other non-baseball-related activities.

"There's no way they can get those kinds of numbers," said Mike Castelluccio, editor of the PreserveRamapo.org website.

Castelluccio pointed out that the eight-team Can-Am League has had a significant annual turnover in its franchises, and that other league teams — including the Jersey Jackals in Little Falls and the Newark Bears, who dropped down from the independent Atlantic League after last season — have not been able to attract that level of full-price customers.

Castelluccio also contends that the true cost of the stadium is as high as $60 million — but that it's difficult to give a definitive answer because, he says, the extra costs are being hidden in other appropriations.

There also have been some environmental glitches in recent months, with construction even halted briefly in March by New York State officials after a contractor was found to have been filling a pond with dirt.

But after months of 12-hours-a-day construction, the Boulders are finally about to play in their new home.

And if Boulders ownership has its way, there will be plenty of New Jersey license plates in the parking lot alongside the Rockland fan base.